I need to shut my hot water off

[DerGo]

Hi All,

The hot water tap on my bath is dripping, and needs the washer replaced. My only problem is, I don't know how to turn the hot water off!

I have a Baxi back boiler downstairs behind the gas fire in the living room, and a hot water tank upstairs in the bedroom cupboard which is supplied by the Baxi (I think)

The hot water tank also has an immersion heater fitted, but that is not used.

I have attached a sketch showing the various connections and valves on the hot water tank, in the hope someone can tell me what to shut off. I'm assuming that I will need to drain all the hot water off before I can change the washer? Will I need to watch out for any air locks when refilling?



Any help or advice will be very much appreciated.

Best Wishes
Derek.

 

[nysk2008]

do you have a ball o fit on your bath tap? That would be the first port of call, if not isolate cold feed to cylinder in loft and drain hw from cylinder via drain off at cylinder or via hot tap - just needs to be drained below the level you are working at, to give you the heads up though you may be unlucky and pull a bit of air but easily sorted.

 

[Crinkmeister]

From the drawing, it looks like you just need to close the gatevalve on the left of your drawing. This looks like the cold feed from your cw tank in loft and goes to the bottom of your hw cylinder. Closing this will turn off the supply to your hot taps. Will need to drain water from bath tap before undoing it. Be gentle with the valve if it's a gatevalve as they can seize up in either position (open or closed)

 

[Dannyparty92]

You have a valve on your heating vent pipe?

 

[lame plumber]

You have a valve on your heating vent pipe?

looks to be the return/f&e pipe

 

[Dannyparty92]

I though feed is return and and flow is vent. And I though you shouldn't have the expansion valved incase it was inadvertently closed.

 

[Mike Jackson]

You shouldn't but we all know how many valves we have seen on the cold feed/expansion.

 

[Dannyparty92]

Also how come its ok to valve the feed to the hot water cylinder but not the feed to a heating system?

 

[DerGo]

Thanks for all the feedback. Much appreciated. When I got home I tried shutting off the valve on the right in the photo, which is the left hand one on my sketch, as suggested above. Unfortunately it looks like the valve is seized in the open position. I can only turn it twice before it stops moving. I haven't used anything mechanical to force it, only my hands. Would calling a plumber be the safest option?

Here's a picture of the tank and pipework:

 

[Keefy]

Attachment doesn't work for me.

 

[Dannyparty92]

Nah just turn mains off and drain something that's fed from the cold tank.

 

[DerGo]

Nah just turn mains off and drain something that's fed from the cold tank.

Would it be worth trying some WD40 on the valve?

 

[Keefy]

Would it be worth trying some WD40 on the valve?

Nothing wrong with trying it but I doubt you'll have any luck. Isolate the incoming feed on the large cistern in your loft, if there's no isolation valve put a stick across the top of it, tie a bit of string around that and the ball valve so it doesn't drop and let any water in. Open your hot tap until it stops running.

 

[DerGo]

Nothing wrong with trying it but I doubt you'll have any luck. Isolate the incoming feed on the large cistern in your loft, if there's no isolation valve put a stick across the top of it, tie a bit of string around that and the ball valve so it doesn't drop and let any water in. Open your hot tap until it stops running.

Thanks Keefy I'll give that a try when I get home

 

[Reg Man]

The other valve is on the heating cold feed which passes into the heating return. This should not be there, its against the British Standards.

A bit more twiddling on the other cold feed valve might free off and close just enough to do a tap washer job. It may let by alittle, as old gates never seem to seal properly.

 

[Dannyparty92]

Thank you for clearing that up for me regman.

 

[Reg Man]

Thank you for clearing that up for me regman.

Thread beaten to death?

 

[Dannyparty92]

Yeah haha. Also would you be so kind as to tell me why it's ok to have a valve on the cold feed to the cylinder. Or is it not? I'm guessing because it still caterers for the expansion of hot water from the cylinder the same as a cold feed on a heating system.

 

[Reg Man]

Good point. But it would be very inconvienent when you run a bath to find there's no hot water coming out of the tap. Where as on the heating circuit you would not know if the cold feed valve was on or off.

 

[Dannyparty92]

But would it be a safety issue if the valve was closed and the water was being heated?

 

[Howsie]

No because you have expansion up the vent into the CWSC.

 

[Dannyparty92]

So it's ok for a heating system feed to be closed off so then the expansion can't be taken up in the vent pipe?

 

[Howsie]

Sorry I thought you were talking about the hot water feed to the cylinder. Ignore me, one of those days.

 

[Dannyparty92]

Haha it's ok I understand watching the new pope on tv.

 

[Howsie]

Bless you.